4 ms·
As someone who lives across the world from San Francisco where electric cars are not currently feasible for year-round driving - how does an electric grid like
by scohesc 3y ago
As someone who lives across the world from San Francisco where electric cars are not currently feasible for year-round driving - how does an electric grid like California's accommodate such a large increase in electricity usage?
I guess there's enough people that are able to work remotely, but I feel like having thousands of electric cars get plugged in to charge at roughly the same time would be hard on the grid - especially when you're also looking at the same people likely turning on high-current loads like air conditioning at the same time too.
Does California ration electricity, or are they able to generate enough power to maintain the system? I'm genuinely curious - we're going to have to develop similar systems in other countries/states if we're going to push for all electric cars for the future.
- tannedNerd 3y agoThey do a daily good job off offsetting most people’s charging to midnight-6am by setting high rates per KWH during the day then dropping them to something reasonable during the night time to encourage charging when the grid is basically at it highest capacity
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoMost of California's electricity problems these days are during a heat wave when dry weather forces the utility company to shutdown grid near the tree line (to avoid being on the hook for another forest fire). Those places are in the country, not the places where EVs are being bought (in urban areas that are mostly far away from fire zones).